Umbrella fabric clasp



Jan. 6, 1953 J. J. CUTRONE ET AL UMBRELLA FABRIC, CLASP Filed June 1,1950 INVEN T0'R.S.

- M4260 nzemra BY 1055p JOHA/ CUfQO/VE Avon/E Patented Jan. 6, 1953STATES PATENT OFFICE UMBRELLA FABRIC CLASP Joseph John Cutrone and MarcoP. Ferrante, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application June 1, 1950, Serial No. 165,478

2 Claims.

This invention relates to umbrella fabric clasps, by which is meant themetallic clasp as described and shown in pending patent application,Serial No. 115,929, filed September 15, 1949, for securin the fabric tothe tips of the umbrella ribs. The advantages of the said clasp over theheretofore practice of sewing the fabric to the ribs usually throughapertures provided at the tips of the ribs are fully set forth in theaforesaid application, wherein the novel clasp is fully described, andan apparatus shown and described for securing the fabric to the ribs bymeans of the clasps.

One of the objects of the instant invention is to improve the saidclasp; one manner in which the. clasp is improved herein is that theedge of the umbrella fabric can be inserted to a further extent into theimproved clasp of this invention, as will be fully described in thefollowing specification, wherein further improved features will bepointed out.

For the attainment of the foregoing and such other objects that mayappear or be pointed out herein, we have shown a preferred embodiment ofour invention in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a bottom view of the improved clasp, i. e., with its wings indownward position.

Fig. 2 is a top View of the clasp which is placed at the edge of theumbrella fabric, and

Fig. 3, likewise a top view, shows the clasp with its wings folded inoverlapping relation.

The improved clasp, shown in Figs. 1 and 2, before securement to theumbrella fabric, is fabricated from metal of the proper thickness andcharacteristics to permit the clasp to be stamped from a single blank,and also to permit th same to be firmly secured to the umbrella fabricby bending over certain parts of the clasp (as will be described). Asthus fabricated from the blank, the clasp has a tubular portion 9 at oneend, which is made of such diameter that this end of the clasp willreadily fit over the plain end of the frame rib. The clasp also has afiat body portion 8, which is bent up at both sides to form wings I, 1.Before securement to the umbrella fabric, and as shown in Fig. 2, WingsI, 7 project upright and normally to flat portion 8.

Flat portion 8 and its wings l, 1 are disposed between the aforesaidtubular portion 9 and a tip portion 6 which terminates in a sphere 5.The end of the clasp at portion 6 and sphere will be referred to as thetip end of the clasp because when finally secured to the umbrella fabricand to the ribs, this end of the clasp constitutes the tip of the ribs.The end of the clasp at tubular portion 9 will be referred to as therib" end of the clasp because this end of the clasp is attached to theribs of the frame.

That is, the final disposition of the fabric-secured and rib-attachedclasps, the rib end 9 is next to the umbrella rib and the tip end 5constitutes the tip end of the rib. But in the step of securing theclasp to the umbrella fabric, the clasp is disposed in the oppositedirection. That is, the clasp is not presented to the fabric with therib end Q leading, but rather with the tip end 53 leading, as is shownin Fig. 2, wherein the umbrella fabric is designated In, its edge beingdesignated H.

The two wings "I, l are provided at the edges thereof which arepresented to the edge H of umbrella fabric if! with a cut away portionas shown by the downwardly inclined line 4, 4 which intersects the flatportion 8 at its lower end. Additionally, the fiat portion 8 is providedat the edge presented to the fabric, Fig. 2, with a pair of similarout-outs, one close to each of the wings I, I which cut-outs are shownby the inclined lines 4 4 at this end of fiat portion 8. It will benotedfrom Fig. 2 that the cut-out line 4 of the wings and cut-out line 4 offiat portion 8 meet at corner 2. As a result of the two cooperative wingand flat portion cut-outs 4 and A respectively, a considerable amount ofthe fabric can clear therein to present a bunched or gathered portion i2of the fabric between the two upright wings 1, 1.

Referring to Fig. 2, the front ends of wings 8, 8 are not cut away (asare the other ends, at 4, 4). However, the flat portion 8 is cut away asindicated by the inclined lines [3, l3 which meet the tubular portion 9at points 2 2 It will be observed from this figure that the cut-awayinclined lines P and I3 are substantially parallel to one another.

After the gathered fabric [2 is placed on fiat portion 8 of the clasps,its pair of wings I, 1 are bent over, as shown in Fig. 3, to confine thegathered fabric between the clamped flat portion 8 and wings I. In thisposition of the secured clasp, Fig. 3, its tip end 56 points towards thetip of the umbrella T and its "rib end 9 points toward the handlethereof. Thereafter the secured clasp, such as is shown in Fig. 3, isturned upon itself so that its tip end 5-6 will now point in the properdirection, towards the handle and its rib end 9 will point towards theumbrella tip. In this orientation of the clasp. its tubular rib end 9 isplaced or snapped over the end of the rib.

It is understood that the tubular (rib) end 8 of the secured clasp issnapped onto the end of the rib under tension, which is made possible bythe resiliency of the umbrella ribs. It will thus be evident that thereis imposed a force upon the clasps which urges it away from the ribtips, which tends to pull the clasps away from the gathered portions IZof the fabric. By turning the secured eias s 180 as explained, thetendency of the 'clasps to pull away from the fabric is furtherthwarted; this outward force is now exerted by the turned clasp at apoint somewhat inwardly of the edge of the fabric.

We claim:

1. A clasp for connecting a fabric to the ribs of an umbrella,comprising a rib-engaging mem her having a tubular inner end portion andan,- outer ornamental end portion connected by an intermediate portion,the tubular inner end portion being open at both ends and adapted torec'ei've the end of the rib, the tubular outer end portion being.closed at its outer end, the intermediate portion consisting of a platelike body extending transversely of said tubular portions and projectingfrom the opposite sides thereof and having end portions bent upwardlyand forming clamping wings folded downwardly toward each other to aclamping position in overlyifi'g' relation to the body, the portions ofthe body projecting from the sides of said tubular end portions havingparallel diagonally extending inner and outer side edges, said wingshaving diagonal outer side edges conforming to and registering with thediagonally extending outer side edges of the body when the wings are ina clamping position, the inner side edges of said wings extending atright angles to the longitudinal axes of the tubular end portionsandacross the space between the sides of the inner tubular portion and thediagonally extending inner side edges of the body. v

2. A clasp for connecting a fabric to the ribs of an umbrella comprisinga tubular inner end portion and an outer ornamental portion contreatedby a plate like intermediate body .portion, the tubular inner endportion being adapted to receive the rib, said body portion havingportions projecting from the opposite sides of the tubular portions,said projecting portions having side edges extending diagonally fromtheirintersection 'with the ends of tubular portions, the ends of saidprojecting portions being bent to form upstanding clamping wings, saidwings being bend-able downwardly to a clamping position in which theyextend toward each other and have their ends overlapping.

JosEPH JOHN CUTRONE. -MARCO P. FERRANTE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED sTATEs PATENTS Number I A Name Date 429,557 B-erne June 3, 18901,060,712 Schultz et al. May 6, 1913' 1,472,411 Fine otso, 19231,720,133 Le Roy i July 9-, 1929 2,401,652 Mi-zrack i-- i June 4,2,532,266 Andres Nov. 2-8, 1950

